The natural resources available within the country for industrial exploitation are of considerable significance. Austria is a leading producer of natural magnesite, a magnesium carbonate used extensively in the chemical industry. Kärnten is the main centre of its production. Other important mineral resources include iron, lignite, anhydrous gypsum, lead and zinc, and antimony. Iron ore from Eisenberg (in Steiermark) is obtained through opencut mining and is processed in such industrial centres as Linz and Leoben.
While oil and natural gas deposits in northeastern Austria are exploited, oil and gas must be imported to meet industrial and consumer needs. The large oil refinery at Schwechat processes crude oil from Austrian sources as well as oil pumped through the Vienna-Adriatic pipeline from the port of Trieste, Italy. Additional natural gas is supplied by pipeline from Ukraine. Coal, mainly bituminous, is found chiefly in Oberösterreich and Steiermark and only in relatively small quantities.
The country’s power needs are met by coal, oil, natural gas, and hydroelectric plants. Increases in domestic power production have helped offset the country’s import debt in its balance of payments. In fact, with its dense network of rivers and mountainous terrain, Austria is a major exporter of hydroelectric power. In 1978 a plan to build a nuclear power plant on the Danube was roundly opposed, and the Austrian parliament passed legislation prohibiting nuclear power generation. The government aggressively promoted the use of renewable energy, and by the early 21st century, renewable sources accounted for almost one-third of Austria’s energy production. Manufacturing
Austria’s manufacturing sector accounts for a significant portion of the GDP; it is also one of the country’s main generators of foreign currency through exports, an important factor in the economy of a small country. Austrian manufacturing focuses on specialized high-quality products, mainly in the traditional industries. Although high-technology production was slow to take hold in the country, by the turn of the 21st century a number of firms had begun to find success through advanced technological development.
Iron and steel production has long been a leading industry. An important Austrian innovation in steelmaking was the basic oxygen process, or LD process, originally named for the cities of Linz and Donawitz (the latter now part of Leoben); it is used under license by steelworks throughout the world. A considerable portion of Austria’s iron and steel industry is involved with construction abroad. Iron and steel firms furnish plants and installations of all descriptions in every phase of construction and equipping in Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Working alone or in consortia with firms of other countries, Austrian companies typically build hydroelectric or thermal power stations, chemical plants, steelworks, and seamless pipelines. The industrial plants may be largely equipped with such Austrian capital goods as electrical and electronics equipment. Austria is noted for providing plants abroad “completely to measure.”
Other important manufactured products include aluminum, industrial machinery, motor vehicles (especially industrial and rough-terrain vehicles) and parts, chemicals, electronic goods and components, textiles, and such consumer goods as foodstuffs, glass and porcelain, and highly prized handmade products.
In general, Austria’s manufacturing sector consists mainly of small- and medium-sized firms, although a small number of large firms do produce such goods as cement, paper, beer, and sugar and sugar products. In the early 21st century the majority of manufacturing companies were Austrian-owned, either held privately or controlled by the government. However, a significant number of German, Dutch, Swiss, and other foreign companies have manufacturing facilities in Austria. Finance
Monetary policy is determined by the European Central Bank and implemented by the Austrian National Bank (Österreichische Nationalbank), founded in 1922. Austria was among the first group of countries to adopt the single currency of the EU, the euro, in 1999; it made the complete switch from schillings to euro notes and coins in 2002.
Financial services are handled by a wide range of institutions, including large nationally owned and foreign banks, the Austrian Post Office Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse), smaller local savings banks, and commercial credit and agricultural credit cooperatives. The Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse), founded in 1771 by Empress Maria Theresa, is one of the oldest such institutions in Europe. Shares of both Austrian and foreign companies are traded there.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Austrian private investors and entrepreneurs have found a new arena for foreign investment in Austria’s former imperial domains—above all Hungary, but also the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and, to a lesser extent, northern Italy. Thousands of Austrian companies, mostly small and medium-sized, have been involved in investment projects in these countries since the mid-1990s. Notable examples of Austrian ventures in eastern European countries have included an extensive network of OMV gas stations and numerous branch offices of Bank Austria. When the European economy sharply contracted in 2009, these investments became a liability, as Austrian banks found themselves dangerously exposed to slumping economies in central and eastern Europe. By the end of that year, most of the country’s major financial institutions had received some degree of bailout assistance from the government, and a number of banks had been fully nationalized. Trade
Austria: Major import sourcesEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Austria: Major export destinationsEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Austria’s main trading partners are EU member countries, the United States, China, and Switzerland. Important exports include machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and iron and steel; among the major imports are machinery, transport equipment, vehicles, chemicals, mineral fuels, and food products.
Services
At the beginning of the 21st century, the service sector employed roughly two-thirds of Austria’s workforce and generated the large majority of the country’s GDP. However, this should not be interpreted as an indication of rapid economic modernization or of the swift development of high-technology service industries. Services, more than any other sector of the Austrian economy, were clearly dominated by the government. Public services were particularly expanded in connection with the so-called “controlled capitalism” concept of the post-World War II years, whereby the social welfare state, through the nationalization of companies, aimed to create more jobs, particularly protected jobs. The public sector also reached out into once privately performed services: banking and insurance; teaching at all levels; cultural institutions such as theatres, symphony orchestras, and operas; transportation and communication; all levels and kinds of administration; and the general health care system, including hospitals, clinics, and most retirement homes. In all, a minority of service jobs are in the private sector, while the government at all levels (local, state, and federal) still controls the majority.
Despite its leading contribution to the economy, the service sector in Austria creates rather little new money, with the exception of financial services, some services offered abroad (such as banking in eastern European countries), and tourism. Indeed, tourism is Austria’s most important invisible asset. With its picturesque landscape, villages, towns, and cities; its highly developed hotel and catering industry; its renowned facilities for skiing and other outdoor sports; its spas and resorts; and its fabled cultural institutions—not to mention its relative ease of access—Austria is to the outsider a tourist destination par excellence.